Computer technology is increasingly used to accomplish these goals, which means more compute power is required. Companies are designing, consolidating or re-designing data centers to accommodate the need for more capacity while also dealing with shrinking budgets and the limited availability of additional power from utilities, particularly in metropolitan areas. Data center managers, facilities managers, and electrical architects need to work together to design flexible, cost-effective data center power distribution systems that safely comply with codes. One topic that might cause some confusion and contention in the design process is harmonic currents. This is an issue that was extremely relevant in the data center 10 to 20 years ago, but due to regulations and new technology, it is much less of an issue today. To help you design a more cost-effective power distribution system for modern computer systems, this paper defines harmonics, discusses some options that might be recommended to deal with harmonics, and provides a valid argument why these expensive options are generally no longer necessary when providing power to modern IT equipment.
